ABSTRACT
This chapter describes new evidence about the library of Henry King, Bishop of Chichester. The library has the potential to illuminate not only King's own biography, sermons and poetry, but also mid-century Episcopal scholarship, politics, law and theology. In order to use this important resource, it is vital first to understand what exactly is represented by the 300 volumes surviving at Chichester and designated the 'Bishop Henry King Library'. The chapter presents extensive unpublished manuscript evidence about the collection designated the 'Bishop Henry King Library' at Chichester Cathedral, and enquires into the nature of this 'strange conglomerate of books', as Hobbs called it. As cathedral librarian, Hobbs sought to establish how King's original collection related to the books that remained at the library. Less influential in the Church, less learned a scholar and less compelling a preacher than John Donne or Lancelot Andrewes, he receives just a handful of index entries in the Oxford Handbook of the Early Modern Sermon.
